DUBAI — Regular complaints of stench in International City have prompted the Dubai Municipality to coordinate with the private developer of the project to find out its actual cause and fix it, officials said on Wednesday.

The civic body has begun negotiations with the developer for finding a solution to the foul odour lingering in the residential district of the project currently housing about 600,000 people.

Revealing this, Director of Drain Network at the municipality Abdul Majeed Al Sifai said the government had taken the initiative for a joint venture.

“We have just started to discuss things. Maybe we will find a solution soon,” he said after replying to a complaint from a resident from International City during the municipality’s live phone-in programme with the public “Managers on Air”.

Firmly rebutting allegations that the stench emanated from the civic body’s Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in the nearby Al Aweer area, officials said a study should be carried out to examine its actual origin.

“There is no proof for people’s claims that it is from our STP.At the same time, I can prove that it is not from our plant. We have H2S-smell detecting units around our plant which are showing that the smell is within acceptable levels,” said Al Sifai.

He said the stench could be emanating from a private garbage recycling plant in the area, or from the small sewage treatment plants inside International City itself or from the filthy ponds behind the project which are “reservoir of effluence”.

Director of the Treatment Plant Mohammed Abdulaziz Najem said some of the packaging plants inside the project could be causing the foul smell. “I think the smell could be coming from their own plants.

“When you are disturbing waste water, it will smell and people will notice it. If the same truck is going to another plant in the vicinity, it will smell again,” he pointed out.

The official pointed out that the Al Aweer STP had been functioning since 1985 and it was the responsibility of the developer to study if it could create any issue for its project which came up only some five years ago.

They, however, assured that the stench had never become an environmental or health hazard. “I don’t think it reached a danger zone. It’s not critical or hazardous, but a little uncomfortable to bear,” said Al Sifai.

Head of Irrigation Projects Marwan Abdul Wahid also took part in the programme which addressed the concerns aired by various members of the public. Abdul Wahid urged residents to make use of the municipality’s irrigation network for watering their landscapes.